Beckley Register-Herald -West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy analyst Sean O'Leary said Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's approach was "fairly balanced" and for the first time in years offered a revenue increase, instead of just budget cuts. Read

"We've significantly cut almost every other area of the budget outside of Medicaid," O'Leary said. "Every major department is spending less money in FY 17 in the governor's proposal than we did in FY 12."

He said the governor's budget did propose more cuts "in areas that were going to be painful," all in all, a balanced approach.

"That's what it's going to take to balance a budget," O'Leary said. "If we continue to cut the budget, then next year we cut the budget again and again and again and those revenues never come back."

Spread the Word!Sign in if you'd like new recruits to be credited to you.